Advantages

Disadvantages

Perfect Teddy for Someone Who's Hello Kitty Mad

It sounds silly to say that this is one of my most treasured possessions, however it is completely true. Despite edging on to my twenties, I am still in touch will my childish side, and I do have quite the addiction to anything Hello Kitty. I have a collection of around fifteen Hello Kitty plush teddies, and this one was my very first one which I received a good six or seven years ago now, just after I had first discovered the Build a Bear Workshop.

You build the bear yourself at the store, and this includes getting it stuffed, stitched and making a wish and putting a heart within it. You then get to give your Hello Kitty Plush a name. I opted for the oh so original 'Kitty' but feel free to name yours whatever you would like, let your imagination go wild! Upon receiving your bear, you also get a little gift certificate, along with it's own identification tag, so if it is lost, it can be tracked if the number is given into one of the stores, which is very effective!

The thing I love most about this bear is that it can be aimed at people of all ages. Obviously it was probably developed to make every little girls dream, and is a perfect gift to buy your daughter, little sister or granddaughters as you can guarantee they will love this! However, I am eighteen and still purchasing Hello Kitty goods.

The bear itself is 43cm tall and retails at £19.00. It is available from the Build A Bear workshops, as well as online on their website. I do feel the price is a little steep for the bear, but it is branded and you do get to create it in a very unique environment, making it that extra bit special for whoever is receiving it. I do feel that the price of the bear does reflect its quality, and after owning it for around six to seven years, there is hardly and wear and tear to it at all, despite the fact that it remains in my bed at all times, and I do admit gets cuddled a lot!

Being 43cm tall, it is a decent sized teddy and the perfect size for you to snuggle up to at the end of a long day. It is white in colour, with black facial features, and a yellow nose, as shown in the image, and is the original Hello Kitty look, as she often gets altered now to sell more styles. She also comes complete with a gorgeous little pink bow, and this is held on by velcro, therefore meaning that it can be removed if you would prefer. One thing I did notice though is that over time the velcro does wear down quite a bit, and my bow now does not stick on any longer, so I just have the teddy without it.

The quality of it however still remains strong, as the teddy is still nice and soft and barely damaged at all after all of these years. One thing I have noticed though is that this product does get dirty quite easily, and with it being white, the colour does start to fade, however I am really pleased with how well this bear has coped throughout the years and it is still my favourite of them all. Due to it being such a high quality, I do feel that the price you pay for it is justified.

I should also recommend that as it is a Build A Bear plush, all of the clothes that they sell for the bears, along with the accessories do fit on this bear, therefore you can spice yours up a little more if necessary. Do also note that for £20.00, you can now pick up the same bear but it is sparkly, being the perfect present for your little princess! Thanks for reading.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

A great bear for hello kitty fans with added build a bear experience

My daughter loves hello kitty at the minute so on a recent trip to the metro centre I decided to treat her to the teddy that was available in build a bear workshop. My daughter loves the whole experience in build a bear and she loves the fact that she gets to contribute into make the bear and giving it its own personal birth certificate.

Hello kitty bear is about 43cm tall and is white in colour. Kitty comes with a pretty Velcro detachable pink bow on her head. We decided to have the bear stuffed so that it was cuddly. You can also chose hard or soft but my daughter likes to have something a bit squishy that she can take to bed with her and cuddle into.

After the bear was stuffed I had a quick feel and I was very pleased at the quality. The fur felt thick and well made and I could tell by the appearance that the bear was going to last us a long time. Hello kitty bear cost £20.00 which I thought was a bit pricey considering most of the other teddies are priced from £9.00 to around £15.00 but I supposed that is just to do with it being hello kitty as the attire seems to be expensive no matter where you shop.

One thing I have to point out about the kitty is that you have to be careful when buying outfits to go with her as her head is rather large and not all of the tops or dresses can fit over so be sure to check with the sales assistant before buying any new outfits. I found this problem with the shoes too as they were a struggle to get onto her feet. My daughter has 3 other bears from the bear factory and all the shoes fit them perfectly.

Build a bear is a great experience for kids but it is expensive. By the time I had bought hello kitty and her outfit and shoes it ended up costing me £38.00. I can't really complain as the quality of the bear is fantastic as always and I would certainly recommend for any hello kitty lovers.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

A great product for girls!

When I was in Milton Keynes for the annual - and rather mundane - school clothes and stationary shopping trip (oh joy!), I walked past the Build-a-Bear Factory store, and I just couldn't resist taking a look inside! The first toy that instantly caught my eye was the utterly cute and innocent Hello Kitty that was perched on the top shelf.

It's about 43 cm tall, so it's actually quite big for a toy. Each Hello Kitty has the signature pale pink bow attached to the ear. The toy is also incredibly soft and cuddly, without being too fluffy (good news for parents: if you decide to get your child this toy, it won't be dropping bits of hair all over your carpet, which is convinient). The toy obviously looks like the real thing, and definitely not some fake copied version of Hello Kitty that you happen to see around in many shops these days.

Each individual toy is about £18 - £20. Unfortunately, Hello Kitty doesn't come with any free clothes, so the price will bulk up when you begin to purchase those additional clothes and accessories for the toy. Trust me, you won't be able to resist getting those adorable glittery dresses with Hello Kitty's little face printed across the front. Oh, and if you're anything like me, you're bound to be tempted by the pink leopard print Hello Kitty PJ's with the matching fluffy slippers! No wonder I always end up spending a fortune at this place. As well as that, if you're feeling a little adventurous, you can also buy a sound box fitted for your toy, so when you press it's tummy it can talk or sing - depending on which one you choose. You can get the Happy Birthday Bear Song, monkey sounds, cat sounds, dog sounds, Star Wars sounds and even Jonas Brother songs (which I think the younger pre-teens will certainly take a liking too). There are plenty more to choose from too. Each sound can range from about £2.50 - £4.50.

This is going to sound rather childish of me, but one of my favourite things about buying this at the store was the fact that you get to have a mini heart sewn inside it when the staff prepare the toy for you. You can even make a wish on it, which I think the kids will really like (yeah, I did as well :P). You can even give your toy a name - and it comes with a free birth certificate. How sweet is that?

Conclusively, as the product is quite expensive, you might want to buy this as a treat or a present. This product is mainly aimed for girls, so if you're a parent who's struggling to find a good Christmas present for your 8 year old daughter, then this Hello Kitty bear is perfect. I also happen to be 17 years old, and I adore my Hello Kitty! I'm not sure whether that's the big kid in me, or if I'm just a typical girly-girl, lol. ;)

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

A lovely plush toy that makes a super gift

We paid a visit to the Build A Bear Workshop earlier in the year to pick up a special birthday gift for a young Hello Kitty fan. Once within the doors of the Build A Bear workshop we saw two Hello Kitty plush toys that we could choose from. Once was the Hello Kitty white plush toy that you can see here. The other was a Tropical Hello Kitty and she was the one that caught our eye.

**********************************************************The Tropical Hello Kitty plush toy is a lovely variation on the normal white kitty kat that you can buy. She is lovely to look at and cuddle, with nice soft velveteen like fur, which is the colour of warm yet soft and mellow wheat or honey.

Tropical Hello Kitty stands 43cms tall and is every inch a lovely gift for a young girl to receive. We liked her much more the the plain white Hello Kitty as we thought she looked more inviting as a potential friend to her new owner.

We choose our Tropical Hello Kitty shell and proceeded to the area where your plush toy gets created. By created I mean stuffed (small children please look away now!). The machine looks amazing, with soft whispy tufts of cloud like white stuffing rolling around energetically in a way that wouldn't look out of place in a sweet shop making candy.

**********************************************************You have the option of either leaving it to the professionals to stuff your choice of plush toy or doing it yourself. We decided against the DIY Hello Kitty stuffing and let an experienced member of staff do the job for us.

At this point you are able to add a little red satin heart to your plush toy, which is a very nice touch and helps the toy come alive in the eyes of any watching child.

You can also add a noise maker if you want to and we were quite tempted by the multi phrase one which says 6 different phrases back to you when you squeeze it softly.

However we decided against that and thought the money would be better spent on glamming up Tropical Hello Kitty with clothes and accessories instead.

**********************************************************After Kitty was stuffed she was then stitched and sealed and ready to face the world. At this point you can really see how lovely the Tropical Hello Kitty is. Her sweet face is framed by a set of sharp looking but sweet and soft to the touch pussy cats whiskers. She has a set of safe yet kind looking black oval eyes and a lovely little yellow nose.

Her face is enhanced by the addition of a pretty tropical looking hibiscus flower set beside her left ear. The white hello Kitty has a pink satin bow, but we thought that the flower was much prettier. The hibiscus flower is firmly attached to the plush kitty and is a nice shade of light pink with a darker cerise and a touch of palest green to set it off.

**********************************************************With our Kitty made and ready to be dressed we picked out a pair of fluffy Hello Kitty pink plush slippers for her, along with a teeny yet very sweet Hello Kitty white sequin fronted kitty faced handbag. We finished off the outfit with a pair of pale pink and cerise pink Hello Kitty PJ's which had a cute star shaped design on them. Well what else does the cool cat about town wear?

Towards the end of our visit to Build A Bear, we made a birth certificate for our Kitty which we later rolled into a scroll and tied with a pink ribbon to enhance it a little. Our Kitty cost £19 to buy not including her clothing, shoes and bag. Her outfit and accessories came in at around £20 or so which we thought wasn't too bad.

**********************************************************Kitty was then packed into a nice little travel box which had a small window through which she could look out of on her way to her new home. We added our own cerise pink bow to the box and transported her to her new home. Once she arrived she was greeted with yelps of joy. Her new owner was so happy that we thought she would never stop smiling.

The plush toy we bought is now known as just Kitty. She often goes out to play with her new owner and they have spent hours of fun with each other. She has developed her own little character in the eyes of her owner and they have been the best of friends ever since her arrival.

**********************************************************Last time we saw her she had been shopping and bought Kitty a very funky pair of bright fuchsia pink rhinestone encrusted sunnies, which Kitty was loving and even wore to bed at night. Kitty is saving for a cute set of roller skates next.

The fact the Kitty has been so well received and lasted so well is wonderful. Kitty has given her owner such happiness along the way that we cannot rate Tropical Hello Kitty with anything less than 5 big kitty kat shaped stars.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

If you are a Hello Kitty fan, you need this one!

I recieved one of these bears about 3 years ago as a leaving pressent for my work mates, when i left Claires.Now anyone who knows me, knows that my wee heart skips a beat everytime i see ANYTHING hello kitty, i know i am like a child when i see her!

Anyway, she came in a cute little carboard carrier box shaped like a little house, with a little window for her head to pop out of, so adorable! The box actually reminded me of a pet carrier box that you get when you buy a hampster from a per shop, only a lot bigger!

Mines came wearing a cute pink t-shirt with a hello kitty face in multi coloured diamontes on it, and a hot pink mini skirt! Although i was a bit dissapointed that she didn't have any shoes, or underwear for that matter! She also has a little pink bow attached to the side of her head with velcro. When you press her tummy, she talks! She says i love you! Which i think is sooo sweet!

Three years later, and she is still going strong, although the velcro attaching her bow isn't as sticky as it once was, and i am forever finding the little bow in the most bizzare places, like under my bed and in my wardrobe! I'm convinced she goes walkies at night when i am sleeping and drops it! Her voice is still as good as the day it was when i got it, so whatever battery is in it must be a fairly good one to have lasted this long!

I have bought her a few different outfits, and shoes and underwear for her! Build A Bear has a range of hello kitty outfits, shoes and accessories for her, as well as their regular outfits which fit her as well!

I love this little bear, it isn't something i would have bought for myself, but i am glad i have her now!

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

A waste of money and if I were you I would choose another bear

My little sister loves Build A Bear so when I have some spare cash I take her to choose a bear to add to her collection. Just after Xmas we were in there when she saw a Hello Kitty teddy so I treated her to it.

The teddy is displayed with the head already stuffed and the body all floppy like the rest of the bears in the shop. You pick up the one you want and then queue up for it to be filled and you can have a sound chip added if you like. We didn't have a sound but my sister picked a bright red heart to go inside the Hello Kitty.

After it looked nice but not worth the £17 I had spent on it including an outfit. This bear is 43cm tall which is bigger than a lot of them in there so my sister was a bit annoyed that she couldn't choose from the full range of clothes. The lady in the shop said they would all fit but she tried a jumper on and it was too tight and made the bear look like a wrestler.

In the end she brought a vest top that had a picture on like a rose tattoo and a little denim skirt that didn't fit very well but looked ok when it was on.

I dont usually moan about the prices in Build A Bear but this Hello Kitty is a rip off. Its pure white so gets dirty when my sister has all her teddies out to play with them and cos its only surface washable its hard to get all the mess off it. I should have got her the elephant one she was looking at cos it would have been cheaper and would have lasted longer.

And after only 2 weeks the stitching at the back startedto come undone. This can happen with any of the bears and the shop will restitch it for you but it was just something else to let this one down.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

Almost prrrrrfect!

We made our first visit to a Build-A-Bear Workshop a couple of years ago and I immediately (and stupidly) fell in love with the place. I browsed through the huge selection of teddies that were ready to be stuffed and came across an extremely cute Hello Kitty one. I decided to buy it for my daughter, although if I'm honest it was probably more for my benefit!

===Bringing Her To Life===

We picked up the Hello Kitty teddy that we wanted (it came with a stuffed head but totally unstuffed floppy body) and took it to a member of staf. They then took us to a big stuffing machine in the middle of the shop and asked us if we wanted to stuff the teddy ourselves - my daughter was very young at the time so we decided to leave it up to the experts! They pumped it full of fluff until it was big and cuddly. They then asked my daughter to pick out a heart for it (she picked out a red and white checkered one, although there were a lot to choose from) and told her to give it a kiss before placing it inside the teddy and sewing it up. I thought this was simply adorable and gave the toy such a personal touch. They also asked us if we would like to put a sound inside of it, so when you squeeze it makes a noise but we declined (we have enough noisey toys as it is!). Sounds cost between £2.00 - £4.00 and you could choose any sound from a cow, cat, elephant, frog, lion, dog, monkey, happy birthday song, halloween noise, Hannah Montana or High School Musical. New sounds are regularly added. Each Build-A-Bear Workshop has a soundboard to try the sounds before making a decision.

===Dressing Her Up===

Once the teddy was stuffed we then made our way through the shop to find a nice summer outfit for it. In the end we decided on a denim mini skirt and Hello Kitty pink t-shirt, which came to about £10.00. There are so many fantastic things to buy for this teddy and although the Hello Kitty teddy is one of the biggest teddies, all (or most) of the clothes and accessories fit it. Some items can be a bit of a squeeze though. Build-A-Bear sells everything that a teddy could ever wish for including tops, trousers, shorts, skirts, dresses, shoes, hats, coats, underwear, pyjamas, jewellery, glasses, handbags, skateboards, football kits, work clothes, fancy dress costumes and swimsuits!

===Naming & Registering Her===

Before we paid for it we had stop off at the 'Name Me Station' which is a computer where you scan a barcode which is a removable tag that is attached to your teddy (the same barcode is also placed inside the teddy before sewing it up) and submitting your contact details. This is called an ID programme and enables the teddy to be identified as yours and returned to you by post if it ever gets lost - an absolutely brilliant idea in my opinion. It also enables them to send you Build-A-Bear updates and offers through the post too (they have only ever contacted me a handful of times so you don't have to worry about a ton of junkmail). We also had to give a name to the teddy. It only took a couple of minutes and we then made our way to the checkout to pay where we were given a print out of the teddies birth certificate! A very special keepsake indeed.

===Ovarall Thoughts===

The Hello Kitty teddy is 18 inches tall (43cm) and is all white. It has really soft fur and a tiny tail around the back. It's also quite tough as my dog has got hold of it a couple of times and it survived the ordeal! The stuffing makes it really squishy and cuddly too - great for snuggling in bed with. It has 2 black bead eyes and 1 yellow bead nose - I've tried to get my fingers underneath them to see if they would be easy to remove (a safety hazard) but I can't, so I guess it's pretty safe. It also has 6 black whiskers sewn on to the face. There is a material tag near it's backside which says 'Build-A-Bear Workshop - Where best friends are made. Stuffed with hugs and good wishes'. Best of all it has a pink, silky looking bow on it's head which can be removed and stuck back on by velcro, thus making it easy to add hats etc. I've noticed that Hello Kitty has been slightly updated since we bought her - she now has a heart sewn on to her bow.

It cost us £18.00 but I believe the price has now gone up to £19.00 which may seem a little on the expensive side, especially as the teddies come completely undressed. At the time we purchased it, it was the most expensive teddy in the shop. Things really do get expensive when you have to start buying the clothes and accessories for it, especially with some of the items costing as much (or more) as human clothes and accessories! The truth is Build-A-Bear Workshop is a right rip off BUT most children, including my daughter, simply adore shopping for new stuff to dress their teddies up, so who am I to complain really? Plus Hello Kitty has been with us for years and has been much loved (and is still in very good condition).

Another minor disadvantage is that it's white and can get dirty quite easily. It can't be machine washed so I usually just run a damp soapy sponge over it. Hello Kitty isn't very unisex either, I can't imagine a boy wanting her - there are plenty more boyish/unisex teddies to choose from.

Overall this is a unique and personal toy that children will love bringing to life. It's a gorgeous teddy (or kitty) which little girls and Hello Kitty fans are sure to love. It should last the test of time as it's suitable for very young children, to older children and even to adults - I'd sure like one of my own! It is so soft and squishy, the perfect bedtime friend. There is also a wide range of suitable clothes and accessories available for it, plus it's very durable in our experience.